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Vulnerability · Published Oct 23, 2025 · Assigned by redhat

CVE-2025-57848Container-native-virtualization: privilege escalation via excessive /etc/passwd permissions

Medium 6.4

In plain English

A medium-severity incorrect default permissions in RHEL-8-CNV-4.12 from Red Hat. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.2% (higher than 9% of all known vulnerabilities).

Severity (CVSS 3.1)6.4Medium
Exploit odds (30 days)0.2%top 91.2% of all CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo reportsCISA SSVC: none
Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official description

A container privilege escalation flaw was found in certain Container-native Virtualization images. This issue stems from the /etc/passwd file being created with group-writable permissions during build time. In certain conditions, an attacker who can execute commands within an affected container, even as a non-root user, can leverage their membership in the root group to modify the /etc/passwd file. This could allow the attacker to add a new user with any arbitrary UID, including UID 0, leading to full root privileges within the container.

Affected products (as reported)

VendorProductVersions
Red Hat RHEL-8-CNV-4.12 see references
Red Hat RHEL-8-CNV-4.12 see references
Red Hat RHEL-8-CNV-4.12 see references
Red Hat RHEL-8-CNV-4.12 see references
Red Hat RHEL-8-CNV-4.12 see references
Red Hat RHEL-8-CNV-4.12 see references
Red Hat RHEL-8-CNV-4.12 see references
Red Hat RHEL-8-CNV-4.12 see references
Red Hat RHEL-8-CNV-4.12 see references
Red Hat RHEL-8-CNV-4.12 see references
Red Hat RHEL-8-CNV-4.12 see references
Red Hat RHEL-8-CNV-4.12 see references
Red Hat RHEL-8-CNV-4.12 see references
Red Hat RHEL-8-CNV-4.12 see references
Red Hat RHEL-8-CNV-4.12 see references
Red Hat RHEL-8-CNV-4.12 see references
Red Hat RHEL-8-CNV-4.12 see references
Red Hat RHEL-8-CNV-4.12 see references
Red Hat RHEL-8-CNV-4.12 see references
Red Hat RHEL-8-CNV-4.12 see references
Red Hat RHEL-8-CNV-4.12 see references
Red Hat RHEL-8-CNV-4.12 see references
Red Hat RHEL-8-CNV-4.12 see references
Red Hat RHEL-8-CNV-4.12 see references
Red Hat RHEL-8-CNV-4.12 see references
Red Hat RHEL-8-CNV-4.12 see references
Red Hat RHEL-8-CNV-4.12 see references
Red Hat RHEL-8-CNV-4.12 see references
Red Hat RHEL-8-CNV-4.12 see references
Red Hat RHEL-8-CNV-4.12 see references

Weakness: CWE-276 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

References